Ganonator
01-13-2005, 04:16 AM
I had the unfortunate opportunity of getting placed in DigiPen's 'The Art of Storytelling' English class this semester. At first, I was interested in joining, but going to the first class made me realize how completely full of shit most people are.
Our professor was an English master from the Phillipeans. For some reason, he was specifically chosen for this spot. I think he's just some guy that is into the 'classics'.
Anyway, the course requires us to read about 8 texts, and write papers on them to see if they would make a good video game. One of the students asked the teacher if we could use jargon like 'First Person Shooter', and the teacher looked baffled, said he'd never ever played a game before, and would require a lot more information than that. A little piece of me died that moment.
I'm torn between this concept that great games can be based off of books. It's such a different art form than film (i understand that it's connected, but i mean the classics). There is no way you are going to have a game based on Romeo and Juliet, Gone With the Wind, or Crime and Punishment. In the least likely event, I can see any book made into an RPG that had some battle or contact, but it misses the point. Film can be based on any book by direct translation. Games require content where the player makes decisions, where books and film just don't have that aspect.
I am just curious, where do you think games will go in the future? The 'classics' most games are based off of now aren't books, but instead great games of our past - Fuck.. it's been 20 years since LoZ came out, but there was a game BASED on situations from it released 3 days ago. And it shared the same name.
Oh yea, and old people are full of shit. Don't trust anybody over 40 who claims they are an expert at something they've never done before.
Our professor was an English master from the Phillipeans. For some reason, he was specifically chosen for this spot. I think he's just some guy that is into the 'classics'.
Anyway, the course requires us to read about 8 texts, and write papers on them to see if they would make a good video game. One of the students asked the teacher if we could use jargon like 'First Person Shooter', and the teacher looked baffled, said he'd never ever played a game before, and would require a lot more information than that. A little piece of me died that moment.
I'm torn between this concept that great games can be based off of books. It's such a different art form than film (i understand that it's connected, but i mean the classics). There is no way you are going to have a game based on Romeo and Juliet, Gone With the Wind, or Crime and Punishment. In the least likely event, I can see any book made into an RPG that had some battle or contact, but it misses the point. Film can be based on any book by direct translation. Games require content where the player makes decisions, where books and film just don't have that aspect.
I am just curious, where do you think games will go in the future? The 'classics' most games are based off of now aren't books, but instead great games of our past - Fuck.. it's been 20 years since LoZ came out, but there was a game BASED on situations from it released 3 days ago. And it shared the same name.
Oh yea, and old people are full of shit. Don't trust anybody over 40 who claims they are an expert at something they've never done before.